A full circle moment for Dr. Bryce

Dr. Peter Bryce, a board certified Obstetrician Gynecologist (OB/GYN), has delivered thousands of babies in his nearly 40 year career.

“I have been delivering about 100 babies a year on average,” he explains.

If you add that up, that’s approximately four thousand bundles of joy delivered in private practice and at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.

“I have enjoyed every moment of these short years,” Dr. Bryce says smiling.

His patients have gone on to do numerous things, “Of these many babies, I have in turn, delivered many babies of these babies!” he explains.

Dr. Bryce had a full circle moment of a different sort, when a baby he delivered 24 years ago, introduced herself to him as one of his newest co-workers.

Melissa Batitto, BSN, RN, joined the team in June 2017 as one of Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center’s newest Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurses. During that time, she had met Dr. Bryce, not knowing their connection.

“I actually met Dr. Bryce during my orientation,” Batitto recalls, “I’ve had plenty of conversations with him. I would see him in the hall or when he was preparing for a C-section.”

Recently Battito was talking with her mother. While the young nurse knew she was born at the hospital in 1993, that conversation revealed some new details. “My mom inquired if Dr. Bryce still worked here and then she told me, he delivered me!”

During Battito’s next shift, she shared with a co-worker what she had learned. From there, they decided to seek out Dr. Bryce and disclose the unique connection, “His reaction was priceless! It’s not everyday people get to meet the doctor that delivered them!”

Team members were on hand for the big reveal and couldn’t let the opportunity pass without capturing it digitally!

It’s a moment they won’t soon forget. And for Batitto, it’s a unique way to start her career, “Here I’m hired at the hospital where I was born and the doctor that delivered me happens to still be working here. It was an awesome experience!”